Benedictine Eggs - A Classic, Many Stories

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Video: Benedictine Eggs - A Classic, Many Stories

Video: Benedictine Eggs - A Classic, Many Stories
Video: How to Make Classic Eggs Benedict!! 2024, November
Benedictine Eggs - A Classic, Many Stories
Benedictine Eggs - A Classic, Many Stories
Anonim

Like many world classics, culinary ones outgrow their creators and live their own lives. So own that soon no one remembers the "fathers", which leaves a niche for the birth of all sorts of bizarre stories.

This is the case with one of the most popular dishes, Benedictine eggs. Two countries argue about his homeland in books and memoirs - the culinary guru France and the innovative America. And the date of April 16 is the perfect time to talk about this specialty, because it is celebrated Benedictine Eggs Day.

Everyone who stopped in front of a French café saw a blackboard written in chalk on the blackboard in front of the entrance of Les œufs Bénédicte. Because of the name in French and because of the skills of the French to turn two eggs, a piece of ham and a slice of bread into a classic, many believe that they are the discoverers of the dish.

A few facts

Benedictine eggs
Benedictine eggs

In the 1902 book Le Guide Culinaire, Auguste Escoffier, one of the most important figures in the history of nutrition, describes Oeufs Benedictine - dish of salted cod with cream sauce. In some versions, the fever is pureed.

In the authoritative 1962 French Provincial Cooking cookbook, the British Elizabeth David, who before Julia Child revealed the secrets of French cuisine to the world, defined Oeufs Benedictine as a traditional dish from the South of France, consisting of toasted bread covered with brandy (cod paste and boiled potatoes), poached egg and Hollandrez sauce.

Whether this is the beginning of the famous recipe, today no one can say for sure. Moreover, the French authorship is challenged by interesting stories about hungry people who crave delicious variety in America.

A little history

Eggs according to Benedictine
Eggs according to Benedictine

Photo: Desislava Doncheva

One is for Mr. and Mrs. Le Grand Benedict (the man is a stockbroker), regular customers of the first and most prestigious restaurant in New York - Delmonico's. One day, bored with the menu they know by heart, they asked for something different and delicious. Chef Charles Ranhofer responded with a dish named after them - Eggs Benedict.

According to some, this story is from the 60s of the XIX century, and according to others - exactly from 1893, a year before the recipe appeared in Ranhofer's cookbook The Epicurean, under the name Eggs la Benedick.

Another story connects the culinary classics with Lumiel Benedict. He is also a broker in New York, but a visitor to Waldorf Astoria's restaurant, Delmonico's main competitor and one of the city's most popular places.

Late Saturday morning, Lumiel reportedly broke into the hotel restaurant with a heavy hangover and asked for two toasted slices of toast, two poached eggs, a portion of crispy bacon and a small saucepan with his favorite Hollandrez sauce. This order inspired the legendary chef Oscar Tchirki to create a dish based on the 4 ingredients and later included it in the main menu of the restaurant, replacing the toasted slices with sliced English muffin and the bacon with baked ham.

Which story is closest to the truth, we will hardly know. But the good thing about the stories behind the culinary classics is that no matter how many, the taste does not change.

Cheers!

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